SF community members push back on Tasers

More than 100 people turned out for a community meeting on Tasers Tuesday night, first breaking into small groups of roughly 25 each, and then convening in a fiery public comment session that at one point erupted into activists chanting, “No Tasers!” and drowning out Police Commissioner Sonia E. Melara calls for order.

The police commission has voted against the use of Tasers twice in recent years – in 2004 and twice in 2010 – and has taken up the issue again because a 2016 Department of Justice report on the San Francisco Police Department recommended the city “strongly consider deploying” Tasers.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Police Chief Bill Scott made clear he believes Tasers are a necessary addition to the department’s existing set of non-lethal-force options while a majority of the public in attendance cried foul on adding them to an officer’s arsenal.

“Until SFPD shows that you’re prioritizing the way you’re going to transform from a warrior to a guardian culture,” Tasers should be opposed, said Adriana Camarena, a Mission District activist and an advocate for the families of police shootings including Luis Gongora Pat, a man who police shot and killed in the Mission in April 2016.

“Then down the line we can talk about Tasers,” she added, provoking … READ MORE.